Sunward We Climb
by only breath
Summary: "I wasn't finished with you yet," says life. "I have only sketched your skeleton on my canvas." / A collection of unrelated freeverse.
1. Blackest Emotions

**blackest emotions**

**by _only breath_**

**OOO**

you're spiralling out of control

like a hurricane intent on causing destruction

wherever

you

_go_

you're a whirlwind of all the blackest emotions

of malice

and of fatal hatred

you weave your winds through the bonds that everyone's made

and you snap them like twigs and they disintegrate

into all the blackest emotions

you charge through love and romance

and you suffocate relationships;

press down on them

slowly let them die

until they dissolve into all the blackest emotions

you're making sure _everyone_ feels what you feel

you don't want to be so alone

_so isolated_

and you're thinking that maybe you can all be

alone

together

but you know you're all drowning in the blackest emotions

and you can't reach the air.

no one will help you now

**OOO**

_For: _ASAWAU Comp, Key Signature Comp (D# Minor)

_Author's Notes: _Free verse is fun! Guess the character. (Actually, I don't even know who the character could be. Maybe an old Black ancestor?)


	2. Sink or Swim?

**sink or swim?**

**by _only breath_**

**OOO**

sink or swim?

it's all up to you, dear hermione

will you hold onto that

_ohsotiny_

sliver of life you have left?

will you cherish it,

hold it tighter than the invisible ropes

that c.o.n.s.t.r.i.c.t your neck

and c.l.o.s.e your throat?

or will you give up

like your dear mother,

who chucked herself off the skyscraper opposite your window

because she thought n.o.b.o.d.y loved her?

will you stop thrashing about in the water,

in the icy currents that are

so

so

_cold_

and will you let the darkness take you as its own?

sink or swim?

it's all up to you, honey

oh, honey, you know you prefer to sink

you're giving in to the turbulent sea,

you're letting your life sift out through your fading fingertips

and you know that drowning is just like the

i.n.s.a.n.i.t.y

that wraps around your mind;

all _darkness_

and _coldness_

and an eerie sort of peacefulness

until the voices come back, and they're _ohsoloud_

they'll get stronger

and they'll scream in your ears,

'til you can't hear anything else

can't hear those people shouting in your face,

and your father and your stepmother who scream at each other through the walls

so loud that your music can't block them out

but your voices can

and this is why you love insanity.

you're sinking,

you're drowning,

you're embracing the cold and the pressure from the water

the reeds that tickle your arms

and the fish that dart around you as your final breaths seep out in bubbles

all you need to do is end it all

that's a good girl...

welcome to the insanity of death, honey

**OOO**

_For: _ASAWAU Comp, Double Or Nothing Comp (200), Key Signature Comp (F# Minor)


	3. Beautiful Skeletons

**beautiful skeletons**

**by _only breath_**

**OOO**

children l-i-n-k their sweaty hands,

their cheeks tinged with **r.e.d** from the cold

and their {breath} comes out in wisps of _f.o.g_

as they spin in a (circle), chanting over and over

.

"ariana

and gellert

sitting in a tree

k. i. l. l. i. n. g"

.

dust scattered m/e/m/o/r/i/e/s

and d\r\e\a\m\s were etched into the *stars*

you're walking through an _ancient city_

and now it's **ours**

.

**you** and **me** are meant to be

the [rulers] of this [land]

the rolling hills of b.o.n.e.s and decaying flesh

the castles of b.o.d.i.e.s that scrape the azure skies

.

o-n-e d-a-y they will remember us

our **triumphant faces** will line the streets of paris

and our **beautiful skeletons** will lie in glass coffins,

on show for **everyone** to marvel at

.

we are the _king_ and _queen_

and this is our fairytale to control

everyone is our ;pawn;

on this c**h**e**s**s**b**o**a**r**d** of w~a~r

.

out with the )old(

and in with the }new{

let's make our k.i.n.g.d.o.m _glow_

far **brighter** than the sun that boils our _hills_ of _death_

.

let's make our =bone-littered streets= bustle once more with life

let's paint our buildings red with the pools of blood on the dirty ground

**you** and **me**, ariana

::together 'til eternity::

.

we'll _dance_ together

you'll dress in sheets of :silk: and :satin:

and i'll guide you as you _weave_ your r,o,p,e,s

that ~ensnare~ the necks of those that dare to defy

.

and now we wonder why

not a single person ever bothered to utter these wise words:

"you can be a **king** or a **street-sweeper**,

but _everybody_ dances with the ::grim reaper::"

.

y.o.u made me feel human

y.o.u made me feel

y.o.u made me

y.o.u made

y.o.u

.

[goodbye, ariana]

.

i suppose this is what it's like to d,i,e

**cold hands** that encircle your h,e,a,r,t

and .:flames:. that lick at your lungs

and it's over in an **instant**

.

we shall see each other soon

d.e.e.p, d.e.e.p below

the grounds of the **_kingdom_** we rule

and into the blood red .:fires:. of the place we truly belong

.

[we are infinite]

**OOO**

_For: _The Freeverse Competition - ASWAU Comp - Double or Nothing Comp (400) - Key Signature Comp Db Major

_Author's Notes:_ I did a bit more formatting than usual, as you can see. Also THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER. kthxbai - This fic was heavily inspired by ink teardrops' "nothing left but golden bones", which you should read because it is totes amaze.


	4. Foggy Windows

**foggy windows**

**by ****_only breath_**

**OOO**

the happiest you ever were

was when you were merely a child, looking up at the world around you

with your big, brown eyes

so innocent,

unaware of what was to come

.

you were happiest when your life was all about

crinkled scarlet paper cranes,

shaky knees at third grade spelling bees,

the scent of your mother's beef lasagne as she played with all her pots and pans,

out-of-tune flute performances,

planets that hung from your bedroom ceiling,

chasing after the ball in the middle of a muddy field,

trying new things,

and letting the adults make all the important decisions

.

your **childhood** is just like

the inside of a car on a winter's day.

you're standing outside the freezing cold,

chattering your teeth and wishing your coat was thicker

and looking wistfully into that car.

because that car is warm,

and outside in the big, bad world you can't handle the frost that bites at your skin.

but the windows are all fogging up,

and your evanescent memories of your

wonderful

beautiful

_simple_

**childhood**

are slipping through your fingers like smoke

.

you wish it was like the old days

when it didn't matter if you made mistakes,

and the biggest thing you worried about was giving speeches in front of the class.

but **childhood** doesn't last forever

.

putting teeth under your pillow,

putting milk and cookies beside the christmas tree.

life isn't like that anymore

once upon a time you didn't give a care in the world

and now you have a t.h.o.u.s.a.n.d people to care about

and you couldn't save them all.

.

lavender's gone, dean -

it's all your fault

.

**childhood** was all about

sneaking glances at your crush

and marrying her during recess

.

real life is all about

watching the worst things happen to the love of your life

and simply staring, transfixed

.

she's gone now, dean

she's not coming back

.

it's not like when your daddy gets a call from work

and drives away for a week,

wiping away your tears and promising he'll always come back.

no, it's like a one-way trip

down into the dark abyss of death

.

she's gone now, dean

g.o.n.e

.

and lavender was always the most beautiful

not just on the outside,

but in her heart.

you saw what no one else saw -

they saw a one-dimensional girl

and you saw someone whose secrets ran deep.

you could tell from the way she wrote on her hands

with deep green ink

at 8:00 each morning -

you liked her retro ways

but you

_loved_

her

.

when she kissed ronald weasley,

a light inside of you died

she didn't care that you were dating ginny to make her jealous

she didn't see how you always watched her write on her hands

because it fascinated you to see something

that nobody else was looking at.

yet you knew it was all part of leaving **childhood**

and you tried to move on

.

but like an ungranted wish,

your love for her never truly left.

and this is why you ask yourself:

why did you just

_watch_

as the light left her eyes?

.

and this is the agony of growing up.

**OOO**

_For_: Poetry Boot Camp (green) - Key Signature Comp (C Minor) - ASAWAU Comp (scarlet, darkness, loss)

_Author's Notes_: I'm not too fond of this, but, what you see is what you get.


	5. Smelling Roses

**smelling roses**

**by ****_only breath_**

**OOO**

her flushed, scarlet cheeks -

lily shivers in the cold

yet feels warm inside

.

her smile will come

and her smile will go, but

in james' eyes, it stays

.

his teasing remarks...

mischievous lights twinkle in

his challenging eyes

.

a slap echoes through

an empty hallway, shrouded in

darkness - lily's smile goes

.

james doesn't want to

hurt his lily; she is white

and pure as a stream

.

lily understands now -

a kiss, her smile comes;

she's one of a kind

.

moments suspended

in time, when james feels like he

could spread feathered wings

.

these are the moments

james can't forget - an image

burnt into his brain

.

.

.

photographs and sand

and crashing waves vying for some

simple attention

.

the beach was lily's

place; now, it is theirs to share

with our universe

.

.

.

absence makes the heart

grow weaker, and shrivel up

like soaking fingers

.

james misses lily

and his heart is gasping for

air and nourishment

.

poor james - he watches but

he hasn't a valentine

to smell his roses

.

their beach is lonely -

there is no one to hear its

crashing, mourning waves

.

where is lily? no

one knows and james is worried;

where is his lily?

.

a lifeless body,

illuminated by the moon -

poor james is crying

.

james returns to their

beach, but he's missing his love -

the waves mourn and scream

**OOO**

_For_: ASWAU Comp, Key Signature Comp (Ab Minor), Poetry Boot Camp (unique)

_Author's Notes_: I know this is meant to be a free verse collection, but I couldn't resist doing haikus! Sorry about all this character death, I will try to find better ways to end poems. :P


	6. Hourglass

**hourglass**

**by _only breath_**

**OOO**

the war waits for no man,

yet time has stopped.

the wind is finally placid

the sky looks down upon the couple with peaceful complacency

rusty clockwork gears grind to a halt; midnight bells freeze their momentum

the second hand smiles

and time is but a measurement - a passing number in the haze of love and lust

and passion that burns like the candles reflected in hermione's eyes.

they twirl to the music that they can hear;

the rhythm of their breaths

the melody of the wind

and the image of harps in the morning, simply a harmony to the birds that sing well past dawn.

this is the life they have been promised

but night is precious

and day is gorgeous

and those few hours between are the sweet passing.

draco and hermione are selfish; they steal time

they stuff minuted in their pockets, inhale hours along with the scent of summer.

regrets are a stranger -

the starlit night lets the lovers dance together and nature gets on with its work.

lion and snake must not be disturbed.

[lions roar

and snakes hiss]

((hermione learns to hiss

and draco learns to roar))

it's the little things they mustn't take for granted;

draco's fingers splayed gently across her china back

hermione's peppery kisses across his jawline

and time slips by like sand through outstretched fingers.

the hourglass falls,

the glass cracks,

the sand runs.

it is a shadow;

something unavoidable.

the decitful trickster of time comes once again in a sudden onslaught of hours and minutes and sudden realisations

the war waits for no man

and it is wrong to be selfish.

hermione runs and draco is a snake that cannot dance

draco forgets how to roar;

it is there, in his throat, ever present but never reaching the outside world

and draco knows that time is the most cruel of things in the universe.

**OOO**

_For:_ The Freeverse Comp - Key Signature Comp (B minor) - ASAWAU Comp (burn, unexpected, escape) - All Poetry In Challenge (freeverse) - Poetry Boot Camp (midnight)


	7. Chamomile

**chamomile**

**by _only breath_**

**OOO**

i slump in the seat of the smooth subway train.

i pick out all the people who live, and the people who exist.

and i wonder why some people don't know the difference.

beside me, two lovers are locked in a tangle of limbs,

heads drooping like heavy fruit baskets,

and the traces of a smile staining their lips in their stupor.

these people live.

then, on my other side, there is a man

who believes that a suit makes a man, even if it doesn't fit him

and he's reading the newspaper to pretend to be busy - 'cause no one really likes to read the stocks.

all this man wants to do is ignore the concealed blue mark on his cheek where his own daughter punched him,

the tanline on his finger that reminds him of a marriage that was always destined to fail,

('cause it was never really love, was it?)

and the marks on his wrist from where his office desk pressed into his skin.

(deadlines, deadlines, deadlines)

he does not live.

there are so many more like him on this train;

all coffee and newspapers and crisp, ironed suits

and they don't know how to escape the daily grind,

how to experience the beauty that is variety.

well, i'll give them something new.

they're so oblivious,

immersed in markets and stocks and statistics -

today, this boy will die.

i, teddy lupin, will be in the newspapers that these businessmen read so frantically

and they'll skip over my angsty, sickening tribute

because stocks are more interesting.

"live me!" says life.

"be quiet, i can't concentrate," they hiss to life.

"take me and enjoy me!" says love.

"you are a traitor," they spit to love.

.

cornwall is gorgeous,

because it smells of euphoria and tastes like a broken melody

and i swear i can hear strawberries in the stratosphere

and feel messages in bottles dancing in turbulent seas

and taste the bitter tang of a pill.

nobody wants to rush to their death;

this is why i walk

like my grandmother after sitting by the fireplace for too long

petting restless kittens and swimming in memories of the good ol' days.

i walk slow,

and i think.

i think about how oblivious the world is

and how we don't stop to think enough.

one man in new zealand stuffs himself with delicious, greasy fast food,

and fondly pats his belly,

while a child as thin as a toothpick runs from a hungry vulture in uganda,

wishing she were as fierce and clever as a vulture

so that her stomach would stop whining for more food

and the ulcers inside her stomach walls would stop rubbing together.

two people die of pneumonia in france -

four more are born in the coldest regions of greenland.

a mother looks down at her baby and finally gets all the crap about the after-birth glow

because she's hugging her baby girl like her life would not be worth living without her,

while on the other side of the world a surgeon performs an abortion on a red-haired fifteen-year-old,

a surrogate mother enviously watches a happy couple cradle their new baby,

a teenager takes his own life with a smoking gun held in snow-white, deeply scarred hands,

an old man is murdered while he's watching his favourite black-and-white reruns,

this stunning actress has an affair with this handsome actor,

27,000 people died of hunger today,

and there are 14,000 and something days until the end of oil.

this is the chaos of the world that we don't think about enough,

but i am pondering it with all my strength as i walk to my death.

"tell me about death," i say to the wind.

"i have no birthplace, and i will never die. i know nothing of death, my child," the wind says kindly.

i smile for the wind, and my hair turns yellow in the midst of unobservant muggles, and the wind lovingly strokes my arylide hair.

the cliffs approach.

.

it all started with a dagger to the heart,

a broken glass confession.

"i do not love you," said dominique.

i spilt my breakfast,

and she left.

that was the day i pinched myself and felt nothing and finally understood what it was to truly be numb.

there was something wrong with my mirror;

my eyes were grey and without a soul,

so i smashed the mirror and carved

_her_ name

(dominique, dominique, dominique)

into the glass shards that drew crimson blood from my shaking hands.

that day i set fire to my tea.

the burning chamomile disappointed me

and i tossed my tea into the wind with the ground up remains of dominique's glass shard.

this was the day i found myself unable to live.

i just existed.

.

cliffs are beautiful, in a way.

one could almost say they held the secret of life.

who knows how many ended their lives right here?

i breathe in and smell salt and heaven

and i look down.

the rocks are slick with ferocious water,

and i can't help but imagine fluorescent policemen looking down at the rocks,

seeing my mangled, drenched body slammed on the jagged boulders.

interesting.

.

_jump, jump, jump_

_don't chicken out_

_jump, jump, jump_

.

well, here comes the ground.

hello there.

you're coming at me awfully fast

and i'm not in the least bit afraid.

and suddenly you're retreating, and i'm nothing but disappointed

as the invisible hand of magic catches me and tosses me back up onto the cliffs.

.

my saviour smells like chamomile.

her name is victoire.

never before have i seen her,

but it's like i know her,

and she knows me.

so then she takes me home and wraps up in the softest wool blankets and makes me chamomile tea

and it's delicious.

now i live once again.

.

"i wasn't finished with you yet," says life. "i have only sketched your skeleton on my canvas."

.

"have fun," says love. "thaw your heart."

**OOO**

_For:_ ASAWAU Comp (canvas, equality, burn, unexpected, escape) – Freeverse Comp – Key Signature Comp (Bb Minor) – Not For The Faint Of Heart Comp (Operation Void) – Months of the Year Challenge (May) – Poetry Boot Camp (broken)


	8. Wise Fool

**wise fool**

**by ****_only breath_**

**OOO**

the silver chains around her ankles

they burn, oh how they burn!

foolish are they that make light of things they know not

and foolish are they that believe in things they know not

and foolish are they that bow to nargles

dance with blibbering humdingers

and chat amicably with wrackspurts.

luna lovegood is a fool,

lost in her own haze of consistently strange beliefs,

of blue eyes that scream of flight,

of a will that repels permission yet respects authority.

but there's just something about luna lovegood.

she's a wise fool

and deep down, she's grown up faster than any of us.

(talk about nargles,

thinks luna,

it's easier that way.)

and she observes,

and she jots down her findings by the fireplace in golden ink,

and splash - into the fire they go.

liquid flame flies.

luna lovegood is a wise fool.

but the silver chains around her ankles

they burn, oh how they burn!

**OOO**

_For_: ASAWAU Comp


End file.
